I once had a colleague who was my feeder for the high school band. He made a statement that bothered me some. He stated, “I don’t worry too much about posture and tone. I’m focusing on getting the kids to have fun and enjoy band and figure you will fix those things when they reach high school.”
In a small way, he had a good point. I had other colleagues who DID focus on those things, but had no sense of humor, no sense of fun, and no grace for middle school students. Those colleagues tended to drive many kids away from band. But why can’t we have both?
Once you get past producing the sound (or sometimes even getting any sound), start working on improving the tone from the start. There are MANY ways to do this.
Long Tones – As soon as students can play one note, they can play long tones. Remind them to always make the sound great. Demonstrate great sound for them (or have a peer with good tone demonstrate). Sometimes demonstrate poor sound by overblowing so they can learn to discern the difference. Once the students learn the first 5 notes, I like to have them start playing what I call the 5 note scale. We memorize it. We play each note for 8 beats. We discuss how to start the sound with the tongue. We talk about supporting the sound throughout the cycle – from the beginning of the sound to the end.
Match someone across the room – Have students pick a student – any student – across the room from them. Tell them to make their sound fit into that person’s sound.
Open throats/oral cavity (swallow an orange) – To give students a visual of what the insides of their throats and mouths should do, ask them to open everything up like they are trying to swallow a whole orange. Or you might ask them to yawn while keeping their mouths closed.
Play chords – Once you know 5 notes, have students play a major triad by splitting them into three groups. Tell them that each note should be equal in the mix. Start by “balancing” the sound with your choice, then purposely make them fit their sound in by making one or more notes of the chord softer. You can also have a more advanced student play the 7th of the chord.
Recording of solo instruments – Play professional recordings of different instruments for the students to listen to. You don’t have to take a lot of time to do this. A couple of minutes at the start/middle/end of class can do wonders. Colonel Palmatier – retired Army Band – has a page with many links called Sound Like This.
Crescendo/decrescendo – Have students play a long tone and/or chord. Have them start as soft as possible and steadily crescendo for 8 beats, then decrescendo for 8 beats. Remind them not to overblow. Remind them to support the air when they are playing softly.
Most sax players overblow – As a sax player myself I see this happening in a lot of beginning bands. Saxophone is relatively easy to blow. Students can often obtain a better sound by using about half the usual amount of air. A harder reed can often help as well. I go into this more in the video 4 Tips To Prevent Your Saxes From Sounding Like Honking Geese.
Use more air – After I was a professional musician in the army band for over 10 years, I took a lesson from a local sax professor just to help me take things to the next level. The first thing he told me was “use more air.” Even as a pro, sometimes I forget to keep the air moving! Even though woodwind players can also be guilty of this, brass players are the biggest offenders. Most beginning brass players don’t use enough air. I like to remind them that they need to get air all the way through this tube – and the tube is very long. I like to use the phrase Air Will Get You There.
But Mr. Divine – the music says “forte” – Many years ago, I attended the UNC Conducting Symposium in Colorado. One of the guest clinicians was composer John Mackie. During a Q&A session someone asked John, “Why would you put a fff on a high flute note for a middle school band piece?” John’s answer was priceless. In his animated, energetic style he said, “I don’t know anything about middle school flute players. All I know is I want fff in that part of the song. You teachers figure out how to make it balanced.” Since then, I tell my students the dynamics are a guide. We talk about the balance required by the pyramid system. I ask them if the balance will change if – for example – 5 of 6 tubas have the flu and are gone (no, I don’t have 6 tubas). All the students agree it would require a change. I share this story about John Mackie with them and explain how the dynamics are talking about the overall effects from the whole group.
Hum – If students are not used to singing, it is often difficult to build that into the program without some time. However, most will be willing to hum their parts because it is more subdued. Have them hum their note, then play the note as a group. Tuning/tone will often be improved.
We hear flat easier than sharp – I am not sure why, but our ears can often distinguish “flat” better than “sharp” when tuning to a fixed pitch. Even with nearly four decades in music now, I sometimes am not sure if someone is flat or sharp. I use the phrase when in doubt, pull out to remind students to do something if they think tuning is off. If pulling out is the wrong direction, most students will be able to hear that the tuning has become worse. I will often use two students as an example, having one purposely pull out a tuning slide to an extreme. Then I’ll ask, “Can you hear that?” Almost everyone can.
Build chords from the bottom – Teach students the meaning of a chord (3 or more notes), then have them play a chord. Assign students 1-3-5 (you can do this as soon as they know just 5 notes on their instruments). Have all the 1s play (and hold), then add the 5s (and hold), then add the 3s (and hold). To get students to play with a more balanced sound, explain to them that the 1s should be the loudest – have all the others blend their sound into the 1s. If you stop the students often and give them a quick tip, you will find that they greatly improve their balance. Don’t allow them to play poorly.
Teach students the pyramid of sound.Remind them that the bottom is 3x as wide (so we need 3x the sound), but the top instruments often have 3x as many students playing them.
Get your own free sound pyramid poster at Stepwise Publications.They have many music teaching resources, both free and paid, available.
Function chorales – Function chorales were created by composer Stephen Mellilo. You pay for a pdf set once and then you own them and can print as many copies as you need. Function chorales are built by the number instead of written out, so you can use each chorale (there are 25) in all 12 keys. They are written in SATB with a suggested instrumentation. However, you can change and alter this each time to get students comfortable hearing, blending, and tuning. Plus it’s a great way to reinforce whatever key you are in. Find out more HERE. Download a free sample from Stephen HERE.
Have all the Section Leaders Play – You can use this technique in several ways. Start with one section – trumpets for example. Have the 1st chair player play. Instruct students to match the section leader. Add each section member one at a time. If one doesn’t match, stop the section and state “your sound was sticking out – make it match.” When the students become proficient at this, you might have all the section leaders play, making sure they all match, and then add the entire band, reminding them to match.
Pick on the low instruments in a positive way – I often state, “If you can’t hear the tuba/baritone/bass clarinet, you’re playing too loudly.” Remarkably, students will often balance their sound just by listening more.
My BEST festival performance ever – My first teaching job was at a very small private school with about 450 students K-12. I taught 4th grade band, 5th grade band, and middle school band. After a few years, we were able to add a high school band. The students were very young (mostly freshmen) but also very dedicated. We numbered about 16 and had zero low brass, but I had a very strong bass clarinetist. She eventually went on to make it into all state band a couple of years later. I taught them many of these techniques and they played with great balance and blend. When it came to phrasing, they played their hearts out. We scored a Superior. Several judges commented on the performance of our group. They stated that they had doubts before we played considering there were no low brass players. I don’t recommend this, but just wanted to share that it is possible to obtain a balanced sound with crazy instrumentation.
Stereo game – Tell students your left hand is for the low instruments, your right hand is for the high instruments. You can either designate or tell them just put themselves in the group they think is best. Instruct them to get louder when the arm representing their group rises or get softer when the arm falls. Use your arms as sort of stereo knobs to adjust the balance. When you get it to where you want, tell them, “That’s how it should always sound.”
James is a retired teacher who continues to teach part time while leading professional development sessions and creating curriculum like Jazz From The Start. Find it HERE.